Upper roller supporting arm for textile dressing and spinning machines



Nov. 26, 1968 G. FUSAROLI UPPER ROLLER SUPPORTING ARM FOR TEXTILE DRESS AND SPINNING MACHINE S 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19, 1965 3,412,434 ING Nov. 26,- 1968 G. FUSAROLI UPPER ROLLER SUPPORTING ARM FOR TEXTILE DRESS AND SPINNING MACHINES v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 19, 1965 NOV. 26, 1968 FUSAROLI 3,412,434

UPPER ROLLER SUPPORTING ARM FOR TEXTILE DRESSING AND SPINNING MACHINES Filed Aug. 19, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 110101040110!I!(Juli/III!rlllanllrltnllllpllrllalllrglllllllllllllr I14 w: llllllllllll lfffli I a i I I United States Patent Office 3,412,434 UPPER ROLLER SUPPORTING ARM FOR TEXTILE DRESSING AND SPINNING MACHINES Gofl'redo Fusaroli, Via Lancetti 29, Milan, Italy Filed Aug. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 481,139 Claims. (Cl. 19-267) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An upper roller carrying arm for the drawing frame of textile dressing and spinning machines in which the arm can be moved from a working position to a rest position parallel to the working position and vice versa and the arm can only be rotated about its supporting member when the rest position has been attained.

This invention relates to an arm for supporting the upper rollers of the drawing frame of textile dressing and spinning machines, and more particularly comprises a casing preferably of inverted-U cross-sectional configuration by which the upper rollers are carried, guided and urged by resilient means for pressing with a greater or lesser pressure upon the lower rollers of the machine.

As is well known, the upper rollers are coated with a somewhat resilient material and, in operation, are pressed by their respective springs against the lower rollers, thereby resulting in a certain compression of their surfaces.

In order to avoid a certain amount of compression being exerted during periods of rest for the machine since (e.g., week-end stops) the compression upon the rollers at standstill might induce a permanent set localized in the contact areas, it is the customary practice to release the pressure from the rollers by lifting the upper roller supporting arm through rotation of the arm in a vertical plane about an end mounted on a fixed horizontal shaft located in advance of and in the neighborhood of the material feeding station. The upward rotation of the arm as presently executed involves several shortcomings of which a few are extremely serious.

In the first place, when the arm is lifted as indicated above, the slubbing section located between the feeding station and the twist point following the drawing rollers, by virtue of being left uncontrolled, loses the twist already acquired even when sliding along the portion still to be drawn, thus giving rise to, as the operation is resumed, a long portion of slubbing which is defective both as to the count and amount of twist, and a large number of broken threads is a result.

In the second place, since the lifting of the arm is caried out by rotation, in passing from the active position in which the pressure exerted by the springs is the same for all of the rollers, to the rest or inactive position in which the arm is lifted, the drawing roller immediately in advance of the twisting station will be fully maintained away of its cooperating lower roller, with the prior pressure being thus wholly released, and the same is true to a certain degree of the intermediate roller(s). This is not the case for the feeding roller which will always be loaded somewhat due to the weight of the arm in the rest position, or in its upwardly rotated position. Such roller will therefore hear at all times on its cooperating lower roller thus exerting thereon a certain pressure which is not negligible.

It should not be overlooked that a certain physical effort is necessary for manipulating the arm even when assisted by leverages, and for closing the arm. The formation of undesirable drafts in the portion of slubbing between one roller and the next roller due to the rotation of the arm and the nonsimultaneous contact of any lower 3,412,434 Patented Nov. 26, 1968 roller with its respective drawing roller is a result thereof.

The foregoing and other objectionable characteristics are eliminated by the present invention, in which upper roller carrying arm comprises means for moving the arm from a working position to a rest position parallel to the working position, and vice-versa, and such means permitting the rotation of the arm about its own supporting member only when the rest position has been reached.

The above outlined means bring the arm from its active position in which the upper rollers are pressed with the usual required pressure against the lower rollers to the rest position at a higher level and in which the upper rollers are constantly maintained in contact with the lower rollers but under a pressure which is substantially .due to the weight of the arm per se and vice-versa. By such action, the acquired twist and draft are maintained unchanged and work can be resumed without any difficulties.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following description and annexed drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating in a simplified manner the several positions the arm can assume according to the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side view pantly in elevation and partly cross section of the arm in the usual operative position.

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the arm in its rest or inoperative position.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to- FIGURE 2 showing that once the inoperative position has been reached, the arm must be rotated by lifting all of its rollers, thus moving such rollers completely out of the way of the lower rollers.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, and illustrates the details of the abutment.

FIGURE 6 is a view taken along the line VIVI of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 of a constructional modification of the arm.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the supporting member mounted on the fixed horizontal shaft, and

FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the The upper-roller carrying arm according to the present invention comprises a casing 1 which is of in'verted'U configuration with a horizontal web 2 arranged at the highest level and parallel vertical flanges 3. The casing is provided with a pivot 4 defined by a roller 4' (FIG. 6) housed with vertical slots 5 formed in a supporting member 6 keyed onto a fixed horizontal shaft 7. The supporting member as well as the components 4-5 will be described in more detail hereinafter.

The arm or casing 1 has, in the embodiment shown, an upper feed roller 9, an intermediate roller 10 and a final draft roller 11 coupled to lower rollers 8 which are rotatable at fixed locations. The rollers 'can also be of a different number than illustrated. Each of the rollers 9, 10 and 11 is carried by a support 12 pivoted to the flanges 3 of the casing 1 at 13 and the supports 12 carry at 12' the rollers 9, 10 and 11.

A spring 14 is biased between each support 12 and lower face 16 of the web 2 and the springs press the rollers 9, and 11 against the lower rollers 8, with the maximum pressure being exerted in the operative position indicated by dash line A-A' in FIG. 1.

The supporting member 6 (FIG. 6) is provided with an idle pivot 17 which carries a roller 17 in central position. Between the pivot 4 and the pivot 17 is inserted a wedgeshaped end portion 18 of a rod 19, and the portion 18 has an upper sloping surface merging with a fiat horizontal surface 21 on which the pivot 17 rests in the active position disclosed in (FIG. 1.

The sloping surface 20 of the end of the rod 19 preferably arched, i.e., a curvilinear surface. However, since the level of the arm 1 in the final position of work or at rest is the critical factor, the manner in which the arm is guided during its movement from one position to the other is immaterial so that the surface 20 could also be fiat. It should be noted that the upper surface 21 is in a horizontal plane so there is no horizontal thrust component on the arm 1 in the active position thereof.

The other end of the rod 19 is hingedly connected to a control toggle lever 22 by a pivot 23 and on which pivot is mounted a hook 24 capable of engaging with its free end 26 an abutment 25. The lever 22 in turn is pivoted at 27 to the arm.

According to the invention, to pass from the active position of FIG. 2 in which the pressure of the upper rollers upon the lower rollers is the maximum pressure required of the springs, to the inactive position of FIG. 3, in which the pressure between the upper and the lower rollers is at a minimum (very near zero, but at any rate slightly higher than zero), it is necessary to displace the arm 1 from the lowermost position of FIG. 2 to the uppermost position of FIG. 3 (the two positions of the translational movement from the lowermost one to the uppermost one being virtually parallel, i.e., the arm 1 being horizontal in both positions). It is sufficient to rotate the lever 22 in the direction indicated by f from the substantially horizontal position of FIG. 2 to the substantially vertical position of FIG. 3. By virtue of this simple displacement of the lever 22, and of the position provided for the pivots 23, 27 and for the pivot 4 along the slots 5, the rod 19 will slide substantially parallel to its own axis, thus being moved to the left from the position of FIG. 2 to that of FIG. 3. In this position, the rod is farthest from the surface 16 of the arm 1 since the latter has been raised a precalculated distance x as shown by dash line BB in FIG. 1.

In this new position of the arm, the pivot 4 has been shifted to the upper end of the slots 5, the pivot 17 rests upon the sloping surface 20 of the rod 19, and the pivot 27 entered a recess 28 provided in the rod 19 to keep the arm 1 horizontal in the raised position of FIG. 3. In this position, the hook 24 has been disengaged from the abutment 25. It should be noted that in the inactive position of FIG. 3 no upper roller is far from its cooperating lower roller, but all of the upper rollers rest upon the lower rollers with a minimum pressure so as not to damage the rollers sleeves, but maintain in the portion of slubbing located between the drawing rollers and the twisting device, the draft and the twist previously imparted to the slubbing. By such arrangement, when work is resumed, no defective slubbing portions result since the draft and the twist starts again from the precise points at which the stop period was initiated. To again obtain the active position of FIGS. 2 and 6, it is sufficient to rotate the lever in the reverse direction with respect to the arrow f thus again shifting the arm 1 to its depressed position.

It should be noted that, when the arm 1 is in its uppermost position as in FIG. 3, it is always possible if necessary, and as outlined in the foregoing, to shift the arm angularly about the pivot 4 as indicated in FIG. 4 (position C in FIG. 1) without any action on the rod 19. The arm 1 can be kept in such angularly shifted position by providing the arm 1 with a spring 29 which by coaction between a projection 39 and a pivot 31 on the arm 6 maintains the arm 1 in the FIG. 4 position for so long a time as is necessary. A pawled lever could replace the spring.

In order to adjust the degree of drawing when work is started (FIG. 5), i.e., When starting from the position in FIG. 2, the abutment 25 is defined by a shank 33 having a threaded portion for receiving a nut 32 and a coil spring 34 is located between a fixed element 35 and the nut. By the proper manipulation of the nut, the vertical position of the abutment 25 can be adjusted.

In order that the upper rollers may be exactly positioned over the lower rollers so that the centers of rotation of pairs of upper and lower rollers lie in precise vertical planes, the invention provides for the adjustability of the position of the supporting member 6.

As a matter of fact, to obtain a horizontal displacement of the arm 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows f and respectively, i the supporting member 6 is angularly shiftable about the shaft 7. The supporting member 6 is defined by two components 6' and 6" whereby the individual arms may be mounted on or removed from the shaft 7 thus avoiding the necessity of dismantling the shaft 7 per se for maintenance or other reasons.

The lower component 6 cannot rotate on the shaft 7 due to a longitudinal spline 36 which engages a tooth or projection 37 formed on the component 6'. The same results can be achieved by a conventional key connection. The upper component 6" is connected to the lower component 6' by means of two screws 38 passing through two pins 39 carried by the lower component 6 and threaded into two pins 40 carried by the upper component 6". The four pins are mounted to be capable of rotation so that by tightening or loosening the screws 38 respectively, permits the upper component 6 to rotate and thus displace the arm 1 parallel to the drawing frame in a forward or rearward direction with respect to said frame for obtaining a convenient adjustment of the upper rollers with respect to the lower rollers during assembly.

The modification of the arm 1 shown in FIG. 7 allows the two parallel positions of the arm as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (and vice-versa) to be obtained. In this embodiment, one arm of a bell crank 42 is pivoted to the end portion 18 of the rod 19 as at 41, while the other arm is pivoted at 44 in a vertical slot 45 provided in the upper component 6". The angle of the ball crank is pivoted at 43 in a horizontal slot 46 in the component 6". By manipulating the lever 22 as hereinbefore described, the raising or lowering of the arm 1 can be realized, with the arm being displaced into the inactive or active position which positions are parallel to one another.

The invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the showings in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In textile dressing and spinning machines of the type having lower rollers, upper rollers cooperable with the lower rollers and an arm for supporting the upper rollers, said supporting arm comprising a casing defined by a web and a pair of flanges extending perpendicularly from the web, means pivoted to the flanges for carrying each upper roller, spring means biased between each pivoted means and the web normally urging the upper rollers against the lower rollers, a supporting member for the arm and means cooperable with said arm for displacing said arm from a working position to an inactive position parallel to said working position and vice versa, said cooperable means including at least one rod having opposite ends, said rod being mounted within the casing, a manipulating lever pivoted to the casing, the manipulating lever being pivoted to one end of the rod the other end of the rod having a horizontal lower face and a sloping upper face, a first pivot carried by the flanges of the casing and movable in a vertical slot provided in the supporting member to allow the arm to move to an inactive position parallel to the working position, a second pivot carried by the supporting member, and said first and second pivots cooperating with said upper and lower faces so that rotation of the manipulating lever about its pivot effects axial displacement of the rod in either direction depending upon the direction of rotation of the lever.

2. The textile dressing and spinning machine as claimed in claim 1 including a hook pivoted to the means pivoting one end of the rod to the manipulating lever and an abutment engageable by the hook for holding the arm in itprworking position.

3. The textile dressing and spinning machine as claimed in claim 2 in which said abutment includes a shank, a nut threaded onto the shank, a fixed member having an aperture through which the shank may move and a spring biased between the nut and fixed member whereby manipulation of the nut adjusts the position of the abutment relative to the hook.

4. The textile dressing and spinning machine as claimed in claim 1 including a fixed shaft, said supporting member having upper and lower components, said lower component being nonrotatably mounted on said fixed shaft, said upper component being spaced from said lower component and capable of rotation relative to said fixed shaft, and means connecting the upper and lower components defined by cylindrical blocks on each component having axes parallel to the axis of the fixed shaft and screw threaded studs threaded into said cylindrical blocks.

5. In textile dressing and spinning machines of the type having lower rollers, upper rollers cooperable with the lower rollers and an arm for supporting the upper rollers, said supporting arm comprising a casing defined by a web and a pair of flanges extending perpendicularly from the web, means pivoted to the flanges for carrying each upper roller, spring means biased between each pivoted means and the Web normally urging the upper rollers against the lower rollers, a supporting member for the arm and means cooperable with said arm for displacing said arm from a working position to an inactive position parallel to said working position and vice versa, said cooperable means including at least one rod having opposite ends mounted within the casing, a manipulating lever pivoted to the casing, the manipulating lever being pivoted to one end of the rod, a bell crank lever, means pivoting one arm of the bell crank lever to the other end of said rod, said supporting member being provided with vertical and horizontal slots, a pivot member for the other arm of the bell crank lever located in the vertical slot, and a pivot member for the apex of the bell crank lever located in the horizontal slot so that rotation of the manipulating lever about its pivot eifects axial displacement of the rod in either direction depending upon the direction of rotation of the lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,751,632 6/1956 Dausch 19-267 2,810,938 10/1957 Rulon-Miller et al. 19-266 X 2,870,488 1/1959 Werth 19v267 2,881,481 4/1959 Newton 19-282 3,041,677 7/1962 Butler 19267 3,080,618 3/ 1963 Schiltknecht 19267 3,205,539 9/1965 Kubler et al. 19267 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,380,151 10/1954 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

F D. NEWTON, Assistant Examiner. 

